Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Lower Electric Bill Act of 2014”.
Lower Electric Bill Act of 2014
A BILL
To delay implementation of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Findings
The Congress finds the following:
Certain Environmental Protection Agency environmental regulations are issued without any economic impact analysis that takes into consideration the costs to comply with such regulations and the impact of such regulations on the local economy and jobs.
Certain Environmental Protection Agency environmental regulations are issued without any analysis of the feasibility of compliance with deadlines.
It will cost local communities billions of dollars to comply with the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards.
Communities throughout the Nation will therefore face large increases in their electric utility bills, on top of rising water and wastewater bills, and in some cases these increases in electricity bills could be nearly 20 percent.
The economic impact of such Standards has the potential to be devastating, especially in communities with a high percentage of residents living at or below the poverty line, a factor which is not considered in cost/benefit analyses.
Higher energy costs also threaten all types of businesses, including manufacturing and other industries that employ thousands throughout the Nation.
Sec. 3 Delayed implementation of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency may not implement, administer, or enforce the emission standards for hazardous air pollutants from coal- and oil-fired electric utility steam generating units established pursuant to section 112 of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7412) and promulgated in the final rule entitled “National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants From Coal- and Oil-Fired Electric Utility Steam Generating Units and Standards of Performance for Fossil-Fuel-Fired Electric Utility, Industrial-Commercial-Institutional, and Small Industrial-Commercial-Institutional Steam Generating Units”, published at 77 Fed. Reg. 9304 (February 16, 2012), or any revisions or supplements thereto before the later of—
the date that is 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act; and
the date on which the Administrator completes a study on the economic impacts of such standards on local communities.